I've complained to and complimented Metro a few times over the past years. Usually, the complaints are about something I think is pretty bad (usually sexual harassment by Metro employees), not petty stuff. Nothing has ever come of them, but I continue to submit so that I have a legal paper trail should anything happen.

The last time I complained via the csvc@wmata.com email address, I was shocked at what I received in response. Here it is:

"Thank you for contacting Metro. We value your comments and welcome your feedback. To better serve you, we have created a detailed customer comment form so you can let us know how we can assist you, how we are doing, and how we can improve. This form allows us to respond to your comments more quickly and accurately.

We hope you will take the time to fill out our form so we can assist you with your Metro questions. Make sure you bookmark the link so you can use it in the future."

Say what? Instead of a form letter saying they'd get back to me (they never have), I was directed to SUBMIT MY COMPLAINT AGAIN via their online complaint form! Did my complaint via email ever register? Who the hell knows?

Email is by far the easiest way for most people to contact them, yet they appear to not accept email any more. Do they really care about what we think? This makes me think they couldn't care less.

Oh, and that online complaint form is so tedious--I can see a good chunk of people just saying f-ck it and not bothering.

If this is some kind of "clever" campaign to reduce the amount of complaints they get, I bet it works.

From Jen:

I recently emailed Metro with a question about SmarTrip. Instead of a reply, I was directed to their website to fill out a form. Any idea why they would do that? Seems pretty dumb.

From Tom M., who submitted this story and cc'ed Metro's email customer service email address:

OMG -- They cannot handle an email comment! The bureaucrats just automated a response to drive you to another automated system that is likely to "fold, spindle, and destroy" anything you submit?

THIS passes for customer responsiveness in a region far too accustomed to poor service -- from public agencies, retail outlets, food and bar service, etc. What a load of B.S.

I emailed Metro chief spokesman Dan Stessel to ask about this apparent shift in gathering feedback a couple weeks ago and never heard back.